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Messages - Buffers

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1
Family History Beginners Board / Re: John Atlantic Stephenson
« on: Friday 11 February 11 09:01 GMT (UK)  »
Hi Diane,

So you're yet another John Stephenson descendant! I'm researching on my wife's behalf. She is descended from John Atlantic's brother Albert Peak Stephenson - another one of John's sons with a strange name, given to him because he was born at Peak Hill when his father John Sr. was an agent for Peak Alum Works. Albert Peak had a son Albert Henry and Albert Henry's son was also named Albert Peak - this was my wife's grandfather.

Your John Atlantic heirlooms sound wonderful. Your sudden appearance has generated a bit of activity on Rootschat after a few quiet months. There were several months of enthusiastic contact and swapping of information, followed by a lull which occurred because we all hit a brick wall when it came to finding birth and death details for John Sr.

In the spring my wife and I are going to come out of winter hibernation, get to Geordieland and visit Newcastle Records Office etc. With a bit of luck we'll break through the barrier and find John Sr.'s background.

Regards

David

2
Family History Beginners Board / Re: John Atlantic Stephenson
« on: Tuesday 21 December 10 08:34 GMT (UK)  »
Hello everyone. Good to know that everyone hasn't lost interest. When the arctic weather decides to return to where it belongs, we're planning a trip to Geordieland to see if we can unearth anything - Newcastle Archives, Heworth etc. We're probably going to visit Staintondale too. Have a good festive season.

Buffers

3
Family History Beginners Board / Re: John Atlantic Stephenson
« on: Saturday 06 November 10 12:46 GMT (UK)  »
Yes, you're right Ian. Shouldn't assume anything, but the "colour" reference is a strong indication. The main thing is that JS's death location at Heworth Shore does not conflict with the well-inland geographical location of Heworth village itself because the Heworth township area covered quite a bit of ground and extended down to Tyneside. The family home was no doubt close to the Tyne. This, coupled with his description as "Operative chemist" on his death certificate (which means that he was still working at the time of his death), and the existence of the nearby chemical works (quite a few of them as you point out), provides strong evidence as to why the family moved to the Heworth area.

David

4
Family History Beginners Board / Re: John Atlantic Stephenson
« on: Friday 05 November 10 12:10 GMT (UK)  »
Hello All,

I think I have traced what may well be the circumstances of the Stephenson family in Heworth, between the move from Staintondale and JS's death. "Heworth Shore" the location given on his death certificate, seemed a bit strange to me - the village of Heworth is over 2 miles from the Tyne so how could it have a "shore". So I dug around and got the following info extracts from a Gateshead history site. The notes are dated 1856.

"Felling is also a village in Heworth township, situated about two miles east-by-south of Newcastle, where there are extensive chemical works and other manufactories. There is a school here belonging to the chemical works, a railway station, and a police station."

"Heworth Shore is, as its name implies, on the banks of the river, two-and a-half miles east-by-south of Gateshead, adjoining Felling to the east. Here are numerous manufactories of various kinds, which afford employment to a considerable number of persons."

The notes also list these manufacturers and the list includes the following:_

"Slue Hell, Felling - Armstrong George, colour manufacturer"

So, reading between the lines, it seems that in JS's time, Heworth was a "township" and covered a lot more ground than the village of Heworth does today, including Felling and reaching right down to the Tyne. The notes also say that the industry there included a chemical works - JS's trade. As can be seen, it is also recorded that one of these industries was George Armstrong, a "colour manufacturer". In view of the fact that JS's employer at Staintondale - Peak Alum Works, mined for a substance that was used in the dying process, it seems highly probable that George Armstrong was his employer during his time in Heworth. The logic is fairly convincing - the Peak Alum Works was going downhill as we know, so JS moved on to work for another manufacturer connected with the dying industry. His occupation on his death certificate - "Operative chemist" reinforces the theory.

What "Slue Hell", the address of George Armstrong's company, means, I have no idea - maybe it should be "something Hall". There are many spelling errors and undecipherable things in the notes - probably due to difficulties in transcribing the original handwriting.

5
Family History Beginners Board / Re: John Atlantic Stephenson
« on: Saturday 30 October 10 09:20 BST (UK)  »
Thanks for that Valda.

6
Family History Beginners Board / Re: John Atlantic Stephenson
« on: Wednesday 27 October 10 19:16 BST (UK)  »
So it looks like guesswork for John Stephenson's birth at the moment. I'll see if I can have a go at the British Library to research the East India Company records but I don't know how much is possible on-line. It will probably mean a visit.

Meanwhile Brian, I've got egg running down my face. My wife's grandfathers were both in the RN in WW1. The naval pictures she has are not of Albert Peak Stephenson but of the other one - sorry - and she doesn't know anything about his service either. However we are determined on some research. Jenny's mother, Doris Stephenson was born in 1917, the eldest of Albert's 5 children . They are all now deceased except one. He was a late arrival, born 1938, when his parents were in their mid 40's. He lives in Weymouth, the last place that his father Albert served as a coastguard before he retired. The problem is that this is about 200 miles from us and we haven't spoken to him for years. He's also a bit difficult to contact - ex-directory etc. Nevertheless, we have plans afoot to visit Wemouth in December. With a bit of luck, he'll have photos of Albert in uniform, info about his service and who knows, he may have info and photos going back to previous generations - fingers crossed.

David

7
Family History Beginners Board / Re: John Atlantic Stephenson
« on: Monday 25 October 10 18:54 BST (UK)  »
Sorry Brian, I'll dig out the photo and post it -  and I'll ask my wife Jenny (Albert Peak's granddaughter) if she has any details about his naval service.
David

8
Family History Beginners Board / Re: John Atlantic Stephenson
« on: Saturday 23 October 10 12:30 BST (UK)  »
Having done a bit of "Septimus" and "Quintus" research, I think perhaps I got a little overoptimistic regarding the "Septimus" link on the gravestone in Heworth churchyard. If you do a Google search on Septimus or Quintus you find quite a lot of people given these names in the 19th century. So maybe there is no real link with the Heworth graves.

9
Family History Beginners Board / Re: John Atlantic Stephenson
« on: Saturday 23 October 10 10:01 BST (UK)  »
Over the past week or two, I've been in touch with the parish council at Heworth and a very kind and co-operative lady there offered (weather permitting) to walk round the graveyard to see if John and/or Elizabeth's grave could be found. I got this email last night:-


"It was a mild autumn day today, so my husband had a stroll in the churchyard as promised.
 
There are three visible Stephenson headstones of an appropriate vintage - perhaps there are more, as some stones are face-down and others are indecipherable due to erosion or surrounded by dense foliage.  Three is surprising, as Stephenson is not an uncommon name in these parts, so we might have expected there to be more.
 
Unfortunately, none of those three seem to relate at first sight to "your" John and Elizabeth, but we have recorded the details for you in case you are able to make a connection.
 
Stone 1
Ann Stephenson, wife of Forster Stephenson  -  died 27/12/1831, aged 40 years.
Barbara Stephenson, sister of Forster Stephenson, died 23/06/1847, aged 72 years.
Elizabeth... (frustratingly, the remainder of the stone is badly eroded and any further inscriptions are completely illegible).
 
Stone 2
Benjamin Stephenson - died 16/12/1884, aged 67 years.
Ann Stephenson (wife of Benjamin) - died 27/06/1844, aged  36 years.
        These are the parents of Mary Ann Craig, wife of Foster Craig (again a "Forster" first name, but without the middle "R" this time).
Mary Ann Craig (nee Stephenson) -  died 29/12/1931 aged 89 years.
 
Stone 3
("The family resting-place of Forster and Elizabeth Stephenson of Felling Shore")
Joseph Gawen Stephenson - died 09/01/1867, aged 2 years 10 months.
Ann Stephenson - also died 09/01/1867, aged 11 months.
Elizabeth Stephenson - died 05/11/1873, aged 43 years
Forster Stephenson - died 16/09/1877, aged 50 years
Joseph Septimus Stephenson - died 29/03/1905, aged 36 years.
Elizabeth Ann Stephenson - died 18/05/1931, aged 70 years.
William Stephenson - died 03/12/1933, aged 81 years.
(because the second "Joseph" has the middle name "Septimus", you might assume that he was the seventh child and that therefore at least another two brothers or sisters are unrecorded).
 
I think you have to assume that the two "Forster Stephensons" are related, possibly "Foster Craig" also.
 
If any of this is of interest, we could easily take photos and send them to you.
 
Regarding the comments in my second paragraph, another lead you might consider is that Northumberland and Durham Family History Society ran a project some years ago to record headstones before the ravages of the weather, wanton vandalism and the craze to "tidy up" churchyards destroyed many monumental inscriptions forever.  I'm fairly sure that St Mary's churchyard was one they planned to cover, so it could be worth your while to check with them.  They are on the internet, at www.ndfhs.org.uk"

So - not the best news but as she says, John and Elizabeth's stone(s) may be illegible or lying face down. Interesting though that there is a Joseph Septimus Stephenson on the 3rd stone. The lady who did the search isn't aware, of course, of the implications of the "Septimus" name. This grave must be of "our" Stephenson family. Does anyone have any info that connects any of the names on this stone? (Or any of the other 2 stones for that matter).




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